Mongol Rally 2018

A rally that is described as the the greatest motoring adventure on the planet as well as the most stupid motoring adventure on the planet. The Mongol Rally 2018 is nothing short of an epic adventure from Goodwood, UK to Ulan-Ude, Russia.

The Mongol Rally thunders 16.000 kilometers (10.000 miles) across the mountains, desert and steppe of Europe and Asia each summer. There’s no backup, no support and no set route; just you, your fellow adventurists and a tiny car you bought from a scrapyard for 50 EUR (more or less). If nothing goes wrong, everything has or will go wrong.

Bollocks to tarmac, ABS and gadgets that help you find your navel. The Mongol Rally is about getting lost, using your long neglected wits, raising shedloads of cash for charity and scraping into the finish line with your vehicle in tatters and a wild grin smeared across your face. Neither your car, nor your life, will ever be the same again is what the rally promises.

If it ain't broke, break it
A Mongol Rally car should be 1000cc, ideally less. Because it's not always easy to find a car with an engine that small these days we may overlook any car up to 1.2litres. but seriously no bigger. There are very few rules on the Mongol Rally, but we are somewhat pernickety when it comes to the matter of vehicles.

You must bring the shittest rolling turd of a car you can find. Use a car you swapped for a bag of crisps. Seek out a steed that most people wouldn’t even use for the weekly shop. Better still, come along on a scooter.

After all, an adventure is only an adventure when things go wrong. Where in the name of Uranus would the fun be in cruising 16.000 kilometers (10.000 miles) in a 4x4? If you look at your vehicle and think; "This is the right car for crossing a desert," then you've got it badly wrong.

The rules of the Mongol Rally are gloriously simple:
1. You can only take a farcically small vehicle
2. You’re completely on your own
3. You've got to raise 1000 GBP for charity

How to participate
It's as easy as filling out a form and getting all the things needed, such as a car, visas, a route planned and a big wallet filled with cash. On a serious note, however, its not cheap but for 625 GBP you can get a spot on the starting line, then you need a car and all the other things needed in order to actually reach the finish line in Ulan-Ule in Siberia, Russia some time after the start at the Goodwood Circuit in the United Kingdom. Expect 3-4 weeks before you reach the finish line, in case you need to take time off work.